Sheboygan’s Public Works Committee on Monday approved an amendment to the municipal code that lets the city place a special charge on properties participating in the lead service lateral replacement loan program.

A staff member filling in for the city attorney explained the change permits cities to treat an owner’s loan obligation like a special assessment on the parcel so repayments can be tied to the property rather than collected as a lump-sum upfront payment. “This allows a special charge to be put back on for folks that opt into the loan program so when the property owner enters into that loan agreement, then we've got the back side in our ordinance that basically treats it like a special assessment would have been treated,” a staff speaker said.

Council members pressed staff on two areas: the ordinance shortens a homeowner compliance window from 18 months in prior language to 90 days tied to conforming to state plumbing code, and the ordinance text is written to match whatever loan program the Department of Natural Resources or funding authority adopts. Administrator Bradley told the committee the city had previously adopted 0% interest loans, but the ordinance is intentionally flexible so it need not be rewritten if the funding agency changes program terms.

Officials said homeowners’ costs will vary by census tract and available funding. Staff cited an illustrative full-project estimate of roughly $15,000 per house, with about $7,500 potentially considered the homeowner share in one scenario; actual repayment percentages depend on federal/state funding and census-tract-based forgiveness rules. The water department will administer the loans and is projected to implement about 300 replacements per year; staff estimated approximately 5,500 remaining service lines that would fall under the program.

The ordinance passed on a voice vote. Councilmembers asked staff to clarify administrative processes for applying charges to parcels and to include implementation timelines in follow-up materials. The ordinance authorizes the water department to apply special charges consistent with loan agreements and state plumbing requirements.